Best Cloud Storage for Lawyers 2018

If you’re a lawyer, chances are you have countless pieces of paperwork, invoices and other important documents saved on your hard drive. These documents have likely taken hundreds of hours of your time to prepare and are full of your client’s personal information. To make sure you never lose an important file, we’ve put together a list of the best cloud storage for lawyers.

We looked for services from our best cloud storage picks that take extra security precautions to protect your data from falling into the hands of hackers. All of the storage providers on this list offer zero-knowledge and in-transit encryption using the latest encryption technologies.

Additionally, consider using a provider that offers two-factor authentication to protect you against unauthorized account access.

Below you’ll find our top five cloud storage picks for lawyers. While there are many great cloud storage options, we found Sync.com to be the best storage option for most lawyers because of its extensive security features, ease of use and 2TB of included storage with the base plan.

What Makes Cloud Storage the Best for Lawyers?

Zero-knowledge encryption is a type of encryption where only the account holder has access to their encryption keys. Your provider doesn’t have access to them, and your keys aren’t stored anywhere on their servers. The downside is that if you lose your keys, you lose your files, so you may want to check out our password creation tips to prevent that from happening.

In-transit encryption is when files stay encrypted while being uploaded to the internet or downloaded to a local machine. In other words: this means that your data is “scrambled” when on its way to or from your computer to the service provider’s data center. If someone was to intercept your files, they would get a jumbled file that is essentially worthless.

However, both zero-knowledge and in-transit encryption are worthless if they’re secured with out of date encryption technologies. Make sure that your cloud storage uses at least 256-bit AES encryption to secure your files. To this day, 256-bit AES has never been cracked.

Two-factor authentication requires two things to authenticate a sign-in: something you know (a password) and something you own. “Something you own” can be a smartphone running an authenticator app or a digital key fob. This adds an extra level of security to your account because even if someone has your password, they can’t access your account without physical access to your two-factor device.

Lawyers who work with doctors or touch medical records must use a HIPAA compliant cloud storage solution if based in the United States. Being HIPAA compliant means that the cloud storage company has taken government approved precautions in regards to protecting their servers physically and digitally.

The easiest way to find out if a cloud storage provider is HIPAA compliant is by googling the firm’s name followed by “business associates agreement.” This agreement is provided to HIPAA-required companies and acts as verification that their cloud storage provider (or other healthcare services company) is HIPAA compliant. All the below providers are HIPAA certified.

Finally, take cost and storage space into consideration when shopping among our cloud storage reviews. Each cloud storage company has a different price-to-storage ratio, so assess your storage needs and buy a plan that both fits your budget and can store all your files..

Sync.com is our top pick for cloud storage solutions for lawyers. It offers well-implemented zero-knowledge encryption, in-transit encryption and two-factor authentication at no extra charge.

The service uses top-of-the-line encryption technologies, featuring 2048-bit RSA encryption keys and 256-bit AES encryption on the files themselves. And since only you hold your encryption keys, your files nearly impossible to steal, even if Sync.com’s servers are compromised.

These security features come with one downside: reduced performance. File retrieval times suffer on Sync.com due to the fact that each file has to be decrypted on the fly. Photos and other files protected with zero-knowledge encryption cannot be previewed online as these files must be decrypted on your desktop before they can be opened.

Other Reasons Why We Like Sync.com

Sync.com is an inexpensive cloud storage solution. Individual lawyers can sign up for the Business Solo plan that costs $8 per month and is billed annually. This package includes 2TB of cloud storage and all of the security features mentioned earlier.

If you’re unsure about purchasing a Sync.com license, sign up for one of its free 5GB accounts (there is a reason it wins in our best free cloud storage article). Additionally, Sync.com’s business plans have a 30-day money-back guarantee, so there’s no harm in testing.

pCloud offers advanced, thoroughly tested security features with its Crypto package add-on. This adds multi-layered zero-knowledge encryption to your files, ensuring they’re safe from prying eyes. The package costs an additional $5 per month on top of the service’s standard storage fees.

pCloud’s Crypto package uses the 4096-bit RSA algorithm for to protect private keys and 256-bit AES encryption to protect your files, making it the strongest and most hardened solution on this list, and it’s been put to the test.

Last year the firm held a hacker competition dubbed the “crypto challenge”. The company offered $100,000 to any hacker who could break the service’s encryption during the competition. 2860 hackers entered and none succeeded.

Other Reasons Why We Like pCloud

The service lets you choose which files you want to protect with zero-knowledge encryption. This is helpful because you can keep low-risk files like presentations and videos decrypted for quick access while high risk legal documents stay securely encrypted. Check out our pCloud review for more information.

pCloud’s free tier includes 10GB of storage and is a great way to test its service without commitment. Better yet, the Crypto add-on package has a 14-day free trial.

SpiderOak is primarily a cloud backup service, meaning that it backs up your computer’s entire hard drive. This is different from the other options on this list, but we’ve included it because of its extensive security features and limited-but-functional cloud storage features.

Like Sync.com, SpiderOak uses zero-knowledge encryption to protect your backups. All backed up files are secured by a device key that is unknown to SpiderOak, so your data is only accessible on your devices. Additionally, all file transfers to and from SpiderOak’s servers are encrypted point-to-point.

SpiderOak secures backups using the latest encryption technology. The cloud storage provider takes a layered approach to encryption and uses a combination of the 2048-bit RSA and 256-bit AES algorithms. Read our SpiderOak review for more information.

Other Reasons Why We Like SpiderOak ONE

SpiderOak includes point-in-time backups. This means that your data is backed up in iterations, so you can revert to old versions of files and recover deleted files. This is especially helpful in the case of ransomware attacks as you can quickly restore your files to an earlier, pre-attack state.

If SpiderOak interests you, sign up for its 21-day free trial. Monthly plans start at just $5 per month for 150GB of storage, and you can back up as many computers as you’d like to one SpiderOak account.

Tresorit Business includes end-to-end file encryption and secured file sharing, so you can send private legal documents to your clients without compromising file security. Additionally, Tresorit’s remote wipe feature lets you delete locally saved Tresorit files from your phone or laptop if your device is lost or stolen.

When using Tresorit to send a file via email, the email recipient receives a password-protected download link. You can choose how long you want the file to be available for download, set download limits, and set custom passwords. This ensures that your private files stay private even if the recipient’s email is hacked.

Like other solutions on this list, Tresorit secures on all files with zero-knowledge encryption and accounts can be secured with two-factor authentication. All files stored on Tresorit are protected with 256-bit AES encryption, so your files are worthless to anyone without the encryption key.

The cloud storage provider has monthly plans that start at $12.50 per month, making it one of the more expensive options on this list. If you’re on the fence, sign up for the service’s 14-day free trial. Check out our full Tresorit review for more details.

Egnyte is a corporate cloud storage for companies with five or more employees. The service has stellar sharing features and easy-to-use security, making it perfect for mid-sized firms with multiple employees.

Egnyte has a number of built-in security options, including AES-256 bit encryption for stored files and TLS security when files are in-transit. This ensures your files stay out of prying eyes both on Egnyte’s servers and on their way to them.

Egnyte doesn’t decrypt your files after being uploaded to its servers, but the company does keep a log of your encryption key. Luckily, Egnyte integrates with client-side encryption software Boxcryptor, so you can still reap the benefits of zero-knowledge encryption if required. See our Egnyte review for more information.

Other Reasons Why We Like Egnyte

Egnyte has a number of file sharing features that make collaboration easy. For example, you can give team members varying rights to a shared file; for example, if you’re sharing case files with a new intern for reference, you can give him or her view-only access so they can’t make changes to the file.

Egnyte has a number of reporting and compliance features for administrators. These features let administrators monitor user accounts for irregularities and to prevent data leaks. If this sounds like something your team is interested in, start your 15-day free trial today.

Conclusion

Though there’s a chance you’ll find a better fit for you in our cloud storage comparison chart, the above five services will likely be the best fit for lawyers. As it combines ease of use with excellent security, Sync.com leads the field, though the other four have plenty to recommend them to legal professionals.

Are you a lawyer who is already using cloud storage? Do you differ in opinion for us? Argue your case in the comments below. Thank you for reading.

4 thoughts on “Best Cloud Storage for Lawyers 2018”

I want to know which cloud service has the best usability and functionality. Since I work on multiple documents during the day, I want an easy way to sync without having to do giant folders or have all my individual documents listed separately.

I use Apple computers, ipads and MacBook Pro. I have to decide on which cloud service to use to save all my client documents (discovery, pleadings, motions, notes, etc). I’ve been using Google Drive but it is not good. What cloud service do you suggest I use instead on Google Drive?

Thanks for the question, Ralph. There are a few routes you can take. If Google Drive appeals to you, you can take care of the privacy issues by using Boxcryptor, which lets you encrypt any files you upload to Google Drive. Or, if you’d rather not bother, Sync.com, Tresorit and pCloud all provide built-in zero-knowledge encryption, meaning nobody but you can decrypt and read your files. Of the three, Sync.com is the best deal (2TB for $8 a month), while pCloud is the most flexible since it allows for file previews via your web-browser and has a network drive feature. With pCloud, you’ll need to purchase a separate add-on called Crypto, however, if you want the zero-knowledge encryption benefit. Tresorit is the most expensive by far, but probably the most secure overall, too.